Obamateurism of the Day

posted at 8:05 am on September 21, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

MSNBC’s Rich Shulman quipped that “I don’t know much about diplomatic protocols, but I would guess that waving during the group photo is something to avoid.” From this photo, it looks like 29 out of 30 global leaders agree. (h/t HA reader Carmen P)

Addendum: In case readers wonder whether this is on the level, Zombie at PJ Tatler probed the image’s authenticity and concludes it’s on the level. I’m pretty sure that MSNBC wouldn’t have posted a photoshop that makes Obama look bad, either.

Update: I’ve confirmed that the picture is authentic — by purchasing it from Getty Images. Unless Getty’s into photoshops, it’s on the level.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

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Comments

Dhuka on September 21, 2011 at 9:24 AM
I thought the same thing. I do believe it is a real picture, Obama just looks so fake.

IowaWoman on September 21, 2011 at 10:00 AM

I noticed that there are people off to the left in the photo, but consider the source of the photo. Apparently they wanted Obama to appear to have been front and center, so they cropped it to make him front and center. What is amazing is that they saw nothing wrong with his hand infront of the person behind him.

I paint photo realistic portraits. To my eye, the lights and shadows on Obama are consistent with those around him. You would never acheive that with a card board cutout or with the photo shopping skills his people have demonstrated. Blowing the picture up does not show any pixel changes from those around him either. I will go with experts that this is an honest picture of an idiot doing one of those dumb and dumber cluster farks that an average adult in their right mind would not do.

The question is; why did he think it was appropriate to wave in a group picture of world leaders? There really is no good answer.

The best might be that he was not paying attention to the little people taking the picture and got caught waving at Michelle with the “look where I am” stance.

Maybe his mind was on the two campaign fundraisers he was going to attend once he got away from the required hand presses with world leaders, and the wave sort of slipped out.

The more sobering thought is that Obama is losing his mental stablity. It is a question that even his own party is quietly whispering about. This picture certainly encourages that conclusion. This is not something that a president of the United States should be doing in an important photo that the world will see. He is already a laughing stock to the world, how much more so will he be now.

It is so inappropriate that it is possible that it was done intentionally to devalue his competency and stance on sideing with Israel on Palestinian statehood vote. It is no secret that he has supported the Palestinians in his Middle east peace efforts. If no one tool him seriously or wanted any association with him, he could look supportive of Israel for his campaigning speeches and still effectively have supported the Palestinians.

As for the world leader that now looks like Obama’s hand, His short stature and wide facial features suggest that he is Asian. Maybe someone will come up with a name for the “Obama hand face guy”.

why did he think it was appropriate to wave in a group picture of world leaders? There really is no good answer.

Yes there is: “they told me to stop bowing , I promised not to bow, whatever I do, I can’t bow, I’ll lose the indie vote if I keep bowing, I musn’t bow, but if I don’t do something they won’t notice me -oh nooooooo! Here goes!

this photo HAS to be a fake.
katablog.com on September 21, 2011 at 8:54 AM

Top row our left, at least one person, is cut out, bottom row our right, another person is cut out.

Yawn, that’s what happens when you zoom in on a photo. Go to the Zombie at PJ Tatler link, page 2 and you will see a zoomed out photo.

Plus Obama already stands out in a “funny” way like he was placed there.

He was placed there! Have you ever been part of a group photo? Everyone is “placed”.
In the series of photos taken of this group shot, Obama is in the same place every time, as are the rest of the world leaders!

It would also not be a “natural” place to place a very tall person, he should be back at least one row.

It is a huge protocol boo-boo, you don’t wave. It says here the caption: “US President Barack Obama waves while standing with other leaders during the Open Government Partnership event at the United Nations September 20 in New York City.”

But it might give Obama an opening to not run his re-election, because he now has ‘a bigger role’, a higher calling to run an UN gig.

Sir Napsalot on September 21, 2011 at 3:52 PM

Your are probably right. After he has managed to be President of the United States without the qualifications to be president, or even qualify to pick tomatoes in the country since E verify says he is an illegal. what next? It has to be something he is not allowed to be.

Well it just so happens that there is a law that says the former heads of state cannot be president of the United Nations. There it is! It is just a matter of declaring the restriction as irrelvent and out dated. If that does not work he can demand, even dare, they prove he was a legitimate head of state or shut up and elect him president of the UN.

Being smarter than anyone else, so knowledgeable in world affairs and protocals, and shall we say, allowed to enter parts of a Mosque that infidels are never allowed in, he will be the perfect UN president for the new world order that he believes in.

Michelle will for the first time in her life, be proud of the world, and to prove it will schedule weekly visits to far off places around the world that have acceptable accomondations and lobster on the menu.